


In Plain Sight

by pterawaters



Series: Tumblr Prompts [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Gender Issues, Happy Ending, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-25
Updated: 2014-02-25
Packaged: 2018-01-13 17:10:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1234489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pterawaters/pseuds/pterawaters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek took on more than a new name when he fled from Beacon Hills. Will he ever let the guise drop, or will he live forever telling everyone he's an Alpha?</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Plain Sight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bleep0bleep](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bleep0bleep/gifts).



> Written for [this prompt](http://pterawaters.tumblr.com/post/77759653668/omega-derek-masquerading-as-an-alpha-for-reasons): "Omega!Derek masquerading as an Alpha for reasons. Accidental reveal, get together? Pairing of your choice."

It’s part of their entire identity switch when he and Laura go on the run. She becomes a Beta. Derek becomes an Alpha. “How am I supposed to pull this off, Laura?” Derek asks when he gets his new driver’s license. The fake name he can deal with, the little “A” after his eye color scares him. “I’m an Omega. I’ve _always_ been an Omega.”

“The hunters will be looking for an Alpha female and an Omega male, Derek,” Laura says, flashing red eyes and teeth at him. “If we don’t do this, we’re dead. Just like the rest of our family.”

Guilt gnaws at the pit of Derek’s stomach and his instincts tell him to hold onto that guilt, to turn it into sadness. He turns it into anger instead. Alphas live off anger. That’s what Laura tells him, anyway. Anger becomes the air he breathes for six long years.

The Alpha attitude he can affect. Laura teaches him, drilling the mannerisms into him over and over again. Heats are another matter. Laura buys him suppressants on the black market. It eats up a lot of their budget. Derek doesn’t sleep with anyone. They’d see he doesn’t have a knot.

Laura and Derek live in the city, because the anonymity is greater even than living secluded in the woods. Derek would prefer the woods. 

The first time anyone mentions Derek’s true status is when Kate Argent has him strung up and electrified half to death. He loses his suppressants when the cops raid his abandoned subway car looking for homeless drug addicts. Derek doesn’t know where to get more. He’s an alpha werewolf, but that doesn’t change his gender underneath everything. 

Stress and a lack of sleep keeps his heat away for a few weeks. During the summer, Derek makes Peter and Isaac cover for him while he goes off into the woods to suffer the heat alone. The next month, Peter presents Derek with a 90-day supply of suppressants, saying, “Can’t have you losing focus now, Nephew.”

Derek sneers at Peter, but takes the pills.

Jennifer almost gets him into bed. She tells him, “Sorry. I’m going into heat. I can’t help it around an Alpha like you.”

Derek can only smell the change in her body chemistry because he’s a werewolf. The pheromones do nothing to his libido, turning his stomach instead. He pretends to pass out. She tries to wake him once, and then leaves for the bathroom. Derek hears her pop open a pill bottle and turn on a vibrator. Derek knows exactly how unsatisfying her attempt will be. Derek recites the names of all the poisonous plants he can remember to avoid listening too closely.

When the truth finally comes to light, it’s with Stiles in his face, yelling at Derek about his shitty dating record and how much danger he’s put Sheriff Stilinski in. “You’re not even a fucking Alpha, are you, Derek? You’re an Omega. It’s no wonder you’re such a shitty leader. This is all _your fault_!”

Derek resists the urge to punch Stiles. He recognizes this anger. This is the anger Derek’s been feeding himself since his family died. The anger doesn’t invalidate the truth of Stiles’ words, though. Jennifer looks at Derek with disgust on her face. In the end, Stiles presses an apologetic hand to Derek’s forearm. Derek nods in acceptance. 

Giving up his Alpha power doesn’t hurt as much as Derek feared it might. Instead, it feels like walking on dry land after wading chest-deep in dark water. 

Before Derek leaves town, Scott catches up to him. He says, “Stiles read it in the original police report. He’s sorry, by the way.”

“He kept it to himself longer than I would have bet on,” Derek replies, packing the last of his clothes into the duffel bag Cora bought him. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“You know we don’t care, right?” Scott says. It’s probably easy for him to say. He’s always been an Alpha, even before he became a True Alpha. Derek fights the urge to read too much into Scott trying to comfort him. It’s not Scott’s fault that Derek’s instincts are telling him twice over to submit to Scott, to beg Scott for a place in his pack. “Stiles didn’t mean that omegaphobic crap. He was just scared and angry.”

“I have no idea what that’s like,” Derek says in his driest voice.

Scott chuckles. “You can come back, you know. When you’re done with whatever you guys are doing in South America.”

Derek nods and pulls the zipper on his duffel closed. He’ll probably always end up in Beacon Hills, until it’s finally the death of him.

It doesn’t take long for Derek to find his way back home. It takes longer before it starts to feel like home. He and Stiles have been together almost a year before Derek stops taking his (legal this time) suppressants. Derek’s first heat in years hits while he and Stiles are in the grocery store arguing over which loaf of bread to buy. On the way out, the manager gives Derek a thumbs up.

It’s the best weekend of Derek’s life.

**Author's Note:**

> You can visit me [on tumblr](http://pterawaters.tumblr.com/).


End file.
